Balmain merged fashion and beauty with beaded faces, blush silks and lipstick-style suits at Paris Fashion Week.
The show coincided with the official launch of a new range of Balmain perfumes, created by licensee Estée Lauder Companies. The cosmetic company’s executive chairman, William P. Lauder, sat in the audience, witnessing Balmain’s bold embrace of beauty first-hand.
The theme of the evening was clear: the face. Rousteing told Into The Gloss in 2012 that, “the face is the sexiest part of a woman’s body,” which was evident in his spring/summer 2025 collection.
Even accessories, like the footwear and hardware, took inspiration from Balmain’s newly launched Les Éternels fragrance bottles, which feature a glossy, ridged texture.
This commitment to representing multi-generational beauty has become a hallmark of Balmain under Rousteing’s leadership, and while many brands are hyper-focused on youth, the creative director embraces beauty at every age, which resonated powerfully in last night’s show.
A departure from the rapper’s usual risqué get-ups, Cardi B’s custom Balmain look complimented the show’s theme perfectly: classic beauty.
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With beauty now at the forefront, and the launch of Balmain Beauty on the horizon, Rousteing is expanding his empire in ways that few could have predicted back in 2011.